Untitled - Saints' Books

300 Material for Instructions. [PART n.
Bernard admonished Pope Eugene not to omit medita
tion on account of external affairs; and added, that he
who gives up mental prayer may fall into hardness of
heart, which will destroy all remorse for his faults, so
that after having committed them he shall feel no
hatred for them. 1
St, Laurence Justinian says that the works of Martha,
without the recollection of Mary, cannot be perfect. 8
He deceives himself, says the saint, who expects, with
out the aid of prayer, to succeed in the work of saving
souls a work as dangerous as it is sublime; without the
reflection of mental prayer, he shall certainly faint on
the way. 3
Our Lord commanded his disciples to preach
what they heard in prayer: That which you hear in the
ear, preach ye upon the housetops? By the ear in this
place is understood the ear of the heart, to which God
promises to speak in the solitude of prayer: I will lead
her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart?
In -prayer, says St. Paulinus, we conceive the spirit,
which we must afterwards communicate to others. 6
Hence, speaking of priests, St. Bernard complained,
that though a priest should be first a cistern, that is, full
of holy lights and affections collected in prayer, and
afterwards a canal to diffuse them among his neighbors,
still there are in the Church many canals and few cis-
1 "
Timeo tibi, Eugeni, ne multitude negotiorum, intermissa oratione
et consideratione, te ad cor durum perducat; quod seipsum non exhorret,
quia nee sentit." De Cons. 1. i, c. 2.
2 "
Marthae studium, absque Mariae gustu, non potest esse perfectum."
"
Fallitur quisquis opus hoc periculosum, absque orationis praesidio,
si ab interna maneat refec-
consummare se posse putat; in via deficit,
tione jejunus."
De Inst. prccl. c. u.
4
Quod in aure
"
auditis, praedicate super tecta." Matth. x. 27.
5
Ducam earn " in solitudinem, et loquar ad cor ejus." Osee, ii. 14.
6
In oratione "
fit
conceptio spiritualis."
E. ad Severium.